Reminders of Mortality and… Argentina - November 15, 2024

A strange title, I know. I’m on my way to Buenos Aires to meet Robert my very good friend and travelling companion in Chile last year, now off on a new adventure in Argentina. But first a short digression.

2024 was and is a year book-marked by painful moments of loss. Is there a scale to measure loss and its impact? Should it be constrained because its source is not human?

We have been very lucky in the animals who have shared our lives, in our case, cats. Most recently, in 2010 the year I retired, when V presented me with 2 cats who were to be my companions in retirement, Harry, a Burmese and Toby, a Burmilla. From the beginning, and we are both long-time felineophiles with a life populated by many of their ilk, they were both, in very different ways, special. They were both raised by a breeder who did all the correct things, handled and socialized them, kept them indoors and ensured that they realized that they were social beings who had a responsibility to maintain an interesting conversation and put guests at their ease. They were not trained to do tricks, they were grown-ups and expected to be treated as such.

In the intervening 14 years they have both become very important parts of our lives, Harry, for me, in particular. Harry and I shared a bond that I have shared with few humans. Flawed souls that we all are, we both accepted and loved each other unreservedly, and we forgave each other absolutely for any transgressions. Harry sadly passed away on New Year’s Eve last year, a heart-breaking launch for 2024.

Harry and Toby

Toby, much quieter and more reserved but equally loving became for V what Harry had become for me. Toby and Harry were also bosom friends and very dependent on each other, having come from the same breeder at the same time and having grown up in the same household. Our concern at the time was for the effect that Harry’s demise might have on Toby and this sadly proved to be prescient. I don’t think he was ever quite as happy on his own and seemed to begin a slow decline that unfortunately culminated on the eve of my departure, when he too died.

They will both be deeply missed and life will skip a beat.

In my next post I will return to our Argentina adventure

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